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Abstract

Palaeoaplysina was a major component of Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian reef build-ups along northwestern Pangea, however the paleoecology and geologic contributions of this macrofossil remain poorly understood. A coarse inner and fine outer cellular skeleton suggests Palaeoaplysina was an ancestral Rhodophyte. Two palaeoaplysinid forms are identified in the Sverdrup Basin, Nunavut, Canadian Arctic, including a new anatomically simpler Moscovian-Kasimovian form. Palaeoaplysina is identified as inhabiting both the back-reef and reef front environments within the Nansen Formation at West Blind Fiord on SW Ellesmere Island. This reef complex is interpreted to have four growth stages, including a major coalesced keep-up reef phase. Palaeoaplysina is interpreted to have acted in the reef as a horizontal sediment binder, encruster, trap and hard substrate for encrustation. Russian Palaeoaplysina reefs act as major petroleum reservoirs and further understanding of the formation and distribution of these reefs is important for identifying exploration potential in the arctic.